The President’s latest branded perfume, called “Victory 45-47”, is said to be “all about winning” and costs $249 (£182) a bottle. It follows the release last year of a Trump fragrance called “Fight, Fight, Fight”, which retailed at $199 (£145) and referenced his verbal response to attempted assassination.
It was a depressingly effective strategy in his private action against Paramount Global, a historic case which could hobble American journalism for years. Last week, in a humiliation for its flagship CBS show 60 Minutes, Paramount paid Trump $16m (£11m) to settle his claim that a 2024 interview with Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris was edited in her favour.
Paramount is desperate to conclude an $8bn merger with Skydance Media that is crucial to the Hollywood conglomerate’s future. That deal needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission and its Trump-appointed chair Brendan Carr.
Trump, author of The Art of the Deal, will have enjoyed that. In outbursts against what he calls the “fake news” industry, he often attacks outlets for being “failing” or “dying” as businesses, rather than engaging with their arguments. Exploiting the courts to discomfit media opponents is another page taken from his dealmaker playbook.
From global to local, the President continues his legal assault on media critics. CNN faces prosecution for a new app that tracks immigration raids. Trump is targeting the Des Moines Register for publishing a November poll that suggested Harris was ahead in Iowa; he refiled his lawsuit last week, even though he won the state.
The FCC’s power gives the President leverage over companies and potential monetary gain as a private citizen in the courts. Future election victories will become opportunities for debilitating critical media. More politicians will become litigious with news outlets. Gavin Newsom, Democrat governor of California, announced last week that he was suing Fox News and its host Jesse Waters over claims that he lied over the deployment of the national guard in Los Angeles.
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In Britain, censorship has become another sticky issue for Keir Starmer. Already characterised by Trump’s Maga project as an enemy of free speech as the UK looks to regulate America’s digital platforms, he finds himself attacked from left and right over the criminalisation of government critics, from Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for a tweet advocating arson attacks on asylum hostels, to the punk duo Bob Vylan, who are being probed by police after leading a Glastonbury audience in a chant for the deaths of members of the Israel Defence Forces.
Even the United States placed 21st, despite the censoring behaviour of its media-owner President.
Trump’s Truth Social platform, which lost $400m (£293m) last year, is what he might call a “failing” business. It might go the way of other bankrupt Trump ventures, such as Trump University, Trump Mortgage and Trump magazine. But the face of “Victory 45-47” is always finding new ways to make money. And the news media is paying a price.
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